Ursula Aims for 75 in 2014 - Part 3

Pompeii, with Vesuvius looming over it.

The first message in the thread is a good spot to talk about reading goals, philosophies, etc., but I don't really have any of those aside from the obvious goal of reading 75 books. To my surprise, I managed to hit the goal in 2013, and I'm hoping I can do it again in 2014. I am working my way through the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. In 2013, just about half the books I read were from the list, and that seemed like a good proportion.

I read predominantly fiction, mostly what you'd call "literary fiction." I'm not opposed to genres, I've just fallen out of the habit of reading them. Although I have to admit when I say "genres," I'm really only talking about mystery. I've never been a fan of fantasy or science fiction. When I read non-fiction, it's usually history or biography. I rate books, and I review them. I like to challenge myself to really think about what I read, beyond just "did I like it?"

Currently reading: Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne and listening to Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.




.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. January.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
The Children's Book - finished Jan. 3 (614 pages) - ☆☆☆
Confessions of a Sociopath - finished Jan. 7 (322 pages) - ☆☆☆
The Inventor and the Tycoon - finished Jan. 8 (audio, 15h 19m) - ☆☆1/2 (review)
Townie - finished Jan. 15 (audio, 14h 34m) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Dissident Gardens - finished Jan. 16 (384 pages) - ☆☆
Argo - finished Jan. 20 (audio, 9h 28m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Where I'm Calling From - finished Jan. 21 (431 pages) - ☆☆☆☆☆
Orange Is the New Black - finished Jan. 25 (audio, 11h 11m) - ☆☆ (review)
The Dogs of Riga - finished Jan. 26 (338 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
The Diary of a Nobody - finished Jan. 27 (288 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Parisians - finished Jan. 30 (13h 35m) - ☆1/2 (review)
Cocaine Nights - finished Jan. 30 (329 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2

Total read in January: 12
January statistics

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. February.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Ask the Dust - finished Feb. 6 (192 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Kaffir Boy - finished Feb. 14 (audio, 18h 33m) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Swann's Way - finished Feb. 15 (615 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Oliver Twist - finished Feb. 16 (480 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Main Street - finished Feb. 18 (486 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Remains of the Day - finished Feb. 21 (258 pages) - ☆☆☆☆☆ (review)
The Man Who Ate His Boots - finished Feb. 23 (audio, 15h 18m) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Hound of the Baskervilles - finished Feb. 23 (181 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (mini-review)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - finished Feb. 24 (158 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - finished Feb. 28 (396 pages) - ☆1/2 (review)

Total read in February: 10
February statistics

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. March.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - finished Mar. 2 (256 pages) - ☆☆☆☆☆ (review)
Twelve Years a Slave - finished Mar. 4 (audio, 7h 47m) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Sputnik Sweetheart - finished Mar. 6 (210 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Cutting for Stone - finished Mar. 13 (667 pages) - ☆☆☆
The Curse of the Pharoahs - finished Mar. 17 (285 pages) - ☆☆1/2 (review)
Notre Dame de Paris - finished Mar. 19 (552 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Human Smoke - finished Mar. 23 (audio, 14h 12m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
The Crying of Lot 49 - finished Mar. 24 (152 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
The Sound of Things Falling - finished Mar. 30 (288 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
In the Garden of Beasts - finished Mar. 31 (audio, 12h 52m) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)

Total read in March: 10
March statistics

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. April.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Cool, Calm & Contentious - finished Apr. 2 (291 pages) - ☆1/2 (review)
The Ice Balloon - finished Apr. 4 (audio, 7h 19m) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo - finished Apr. 5 (204 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
A Severed Head by Iris Murdoch - finished Apr. 10 (205 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis - finished Apr. 11 (audio, 14h 51m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Within a Budding Grove - finished Apr. 16 (743 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
My Year of Meats - finished Apr. 17 (366 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Leopard - finished Apr. 19 (285 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Open - finished Apr. 22 (audio, 18h 5m) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Under Fire - finished Apr. 24 (342 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Small Island - finished Apr. 28 (439 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Alone on the Ice - finished Apr. 29 (audio, 11h 39m) - ☆☆☆1/2

Total read in April: 12
April statistics

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. May.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Impressions of Africa - finished May 1 (279 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Mountains Beyond Mountains - finished May 5 (audio, 10h 56m) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Body - finished May 7 (266 pages) - ☆☆☆
Foucault's Pendulum - finished May 9 (640 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
A Town Like Alice - finished May 10 (370 pages) - ☆☆ (review)
Animal Wise - finished May 13 (audio, 10h 55m) - ☆☆☆☆
The Mauritius Command - finished May 16 (365 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Sybil Exposed - finished May 19 (audio, 9h 39m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Lost Girls - finished May 27 (audio, 11h 10m) - ☆☆☆
Thomas Jefferson: A Life - finished May 31 (595 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)

Total read in May: 10

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. June.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
The Visionist - finished Jun. 3 (352 pages) - ☆☆☆
Fathers and Children - finished Jun. 4 (288 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
All Souls' Day - finished Jun. 9 (340 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Guermantes Way - finished Jun. 10 (834 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
Atlantic - finished Jun. 11 (audio, 14h, 23m) - ☆☆☆☆
Hunger - finished Jun. 19 (134 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Player of Games - finished Jun. 19 (405 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
The Kill Clause - finished Jun. 20 (541 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Moon Palace - finished Jun. 27 (307 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - finished Jun. 29 (307 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)

Total read in June: 10

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. July.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
After Many a Summer Dies the Swan - finished Jul. 7 (355 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
James Madison: A Life Reconsidered - finished Jul. 7 (515 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Hallucinations - finished Jul. 11 (audio, 9h 49m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
NOS4A2 - finished Jul. 12 (692 pages) - ☆☆1/2 (review)
Alamut - finished Jul. 17 (391 pages) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
And the Mountains Echoed - finished Jul. 22 (416 pages) - ☆☆1/2 (review)
Mr. Mercedes - finished Jul. 24 (436 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Little Demon in the City of Light - finished Jul. 24 (audio, 11h 6m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
The Rainbow - finished Jul. 25 (495 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
The Martian - finished Jul. 29 (395 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Summer House with Swimming Pool - finished Jul. 30 (387 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)

Total read in July: 11

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. August.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Marina - finished Aug. 5 (326 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Crossfire - finished Aug. 9 (404 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage - finished Aug. 12 (audio, 11h 36m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Red Harvest - finished Aug. 14 (224 pages) - ☆☆☆☆ (review)
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage - finished Aug. 20 (338 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Sodom and Gomorrah - finished Aug. 25 (724 pages)
Sophie's World - finished Aug. 27 (507 pages) - ☆☆☆
James Monroe, the Quest for National Identity - finished Aug. 31 (573 pages) - ☆☆☆

Total read in August: 8

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. September.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
The Beautiful Room Is Empty - finished Sep. 4 (227 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
Let's Take the Long Way Home - finished Sep. 10 (audio, 4h 38m) - ☆☆☆☆
Ferdydurke - finished Sep. 12 (281 pages) - ☆☆☆ (review)
The Man Who Loved Children - finished Sep. 19 (527 pages) - ☆ (review)
Take This Man - finished Sep. 28 (audio, 8h 49m) - ☆☆☆ (review)
Simon's Family - finished Sep. 30 (347 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2

Total read in September: 6

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. October.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Paradise of the Blind - finished Oct. 10 (270 pages) - ☆☆☆☆
The Black Russian - finished Oct. 13 (audio, 10h, 23m)
The Bone Clocks - finished Oct. 19 (620 pages) - ☆☆1/2 (review)
The Captive & the Fugitive - finished Oct. 20 (937 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
Airman's Odyssey - finished Oct. 20 (437 pages)- ☆☆☆1/2
The Burning Plain - finished Oct. 24 (175 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Salt Sugar Fat - finished Oct. 31 (audio, 14h 34m) - ☆☆☆☆☆ (review)

Total read in October: 7

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. November.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
Loving Frank - finished Nov. 2 (377 pages) - ☆☆☆
Buddha's Little Finger - finished Nov. 6 (335 pages) - ☆☆☆☆☆ (review)
The City of Falling Angels - finished Nov. 11 (audio, 12h 52m) - ☆☆
What a Carve Up! - finished Nov. 14 (501 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
Lord Jim - finished Nov. 19 (307 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
Empress Dowager Cixi - finished Nov. 25 (audio, 16h 34m) - ☆☆☆☆1/2 (review)
Desolation Island - finished Nov. 25 (350 pages) - ☆☆☆1/2
John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life - finished Nov. 28 (420 pages) - ☆☆☆☆

Total read in November: 8

.:¤:.:°:.:¤:. December.:¤:.:°:.:¤:.
1421 - finished Dec. 6 (audio, 12h 59m) - ☆ (review)
Testament of Youth - finished Dec. 8 (661 pages) - ☆☆☆☆☆
Time Regained - finished Dec. 17 (749 pages)
The Poisonwood Bible - finished Dec. 17 (546 pages)
Norwegian Wood - finished Dec. 19
Cannery Row - finished Dec. 24
The Borgias - finished Dec. 25 (audio)
Memoirs of Hadrian - finished Dec. 28

Total pages read: 32115
Total listening time: 354 hours, 8 mins

1001 list books read this year:
The Children's Book
The Diary of a Nobody
Cocaine Nights
Oliver Twist
Main Street
The Remains of the Day
The Hound of the Baskervilles
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Sputnik Sweetheart
Notre Dame de Paris
The Crying of Lot 49
A Severed Head
The Leopard
Under Fire
Small Island
Impressions of Africa
Foucault's Pendulum
A Town Like Alice
Fathers and Children
All Souls' Day
Hunger
The Player of Games
Moon Palace
Alamut
The Rainbow
Crossfire
Red Harvest
The Beautiful Room Is Empty
Ferdydurke
The Man Who Loved Children
Simon's Family (Simon and the Oaks)
Paradise of the Blind
The Burning Plain
Buddha's Little Finger (The Clay Machine-Gun)
What a Carve Up!
Lord Jim
In Search of Lost Time
The Poisonwood Bible
Cannery Row
Memoirs of Hadrian

I've decided to at least keep track of where the books I read are set, even if I'm not going to make any sort of concerted effort or plan to cover the country or the globe.

Books Read by State

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

California: The Inventor and the Tycoon, Ask the Dust, The Crying of Lot 49, Cool, Calm & Contentious, Scar Tissue, The Kill Clause, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan
Connecticut: Orange Is the New Black
Louisiana: Twelve Years a Slave
Maryland: The Man Who Loved Children
Massachusetts: Townie, The Visionist, Let's Take the Long Way Home
Minnesota: Main Street
Montana: Red Harvest
Nevada: Open
New York: Dissident Gardens, Moon Palace, The Beautiful Room Is Empty
Texas: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Virginia: Thomas Jefferson: A Life, James Madison: A Life Reconsidered, James Monroe: the Quest for National Identity
Wisconsin: Loving Frank

Books Read by Country

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

Afghanistan: And the Mountains Echoed
Australia: A Town Like Alice
Canada: The Man Who Ate His Boots
China: Empress Dowager Cixi
Colombia: The Sound of Things Falling
Democratic Republic of the Congo: The Poisonwood Bible
Egypt: The Curse of the Pharaohs
Ethiopia: Cutting for Stone
France: Parisians, Swann's Way, Notre Dame de Paris, Within a Budding Grove, Under Fire, The Guermantes Way, Little Demon in the City of Light, Sodom and Gomorrah, The Captive & the Fugitive
Germany: In the Garden of Beasts, All Souls' Day
Greece: Sputnik Sweetheart
Haiti: Mountains Beyond Mountains
Iran: Alamut
Italy: The Leopard, Foucault's Pendulum
Japan: My Year of Meats, Crossfire, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Latvia: The Dogs of Riga
Mexico: The Burning Plain
Netherlands: Summer House with Swimming Pool
Norway: Hunger, Sophie's World
Poland: Ferdydurke
Russia: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Fathers and Children, The Black Russian, Buddha's Little Finger
South Africa: Kaffir Boy
Spain: Marina
Sweden: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared, Simon's Family
United Kingdom: The Children's Book, Diary of a Nobody, Cocaine Nights, Oliver Twist, The Remains of the Day, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, A Severed Head, Small Island, The Body, The Rainbow
United States: see above
Vietnam: Paradise of the Blind

Happy New Thread, Ursula!

Love the photo of Pompeii!

Happy new thread!

>4 connie53:, >6 Thebookdiva: Thanks for stopping in!

>5 AuntieClio: Pompeii was nice to see, although the place itself is pretty abysmally managed. It's confusing and disorganized, which I suppose is all to the benefit of the tour guides, both the sanctioned ones and the "free agents," who are apparently quite good at making up historical facts!

>7 ursula: regarding Pompeiï - really? I think that might be the Italian way of organizing things.

>8 connie53: Yep, Connie's hit the nail on the head, I think. That's just how things are done in Italy, or so I've heard from frustrated friends who have tried to work/do research in and around Pompeii.

Happy New Thread, Ursula!

>8 connie53:, >9 scaifea: It certainly depends on the part of Italy you're talking about. Northern Italy is a different world than southern. Maybe organization on the order of some other countries isn't the strong suit of either part, but the south is something else entirely.

Even the southerners are annoyed with how little things have improved in the management of Pompeii. But I agree that it's very much typical of the area. Although, apparently Ercolano (Herculaneum) is better-organized, if smaller. I thought I might go there as well, but I didn't manage to get away from Naples for another day trip.

In The Leopard, which took place in Sicily beginning at the time of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Sicily and Naples), he described exactly the spirit of southern Italy. He's talking about having taken some foreign soldiers (English, I think) to the top of the castle to look out on the island. "They were ecstatic about the view, the vehemence of the light; they confessed, though, that they had been horrified at the squalor, decay, filth of the streets around. I didn't explain to them that one thing was derived from the other, as I have tried to with you."

Hope you have a weekend full of fabulousness!

Much to my shame I have never yet made it to Italy. As a lover of history and food it seems almost inexcusable.

Congratulations on your new thread, Ursula, and wishing you the very best for the imminent Mother's Day.

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Hi, Ursula. How are things? Still reading? I hope everything is going fine.

The Pompeii photo is amazing. Hope all is well.,

>14 connie53: Still reading - as you can see in the first post, I'm at 7 books so far this month, which is pretty much on-pace with the rest of the year. Reading and drawing, the usual. Things overall are not good but those remain constant.

>15 banjo123: Hi! Pompeii was cool, but I haven't really gone through my photos from there yet. I may post more when I finally do.

Reading and drawing sounds good, Things overall not so much! I hope that will get better soon.

Hi Ursula,
I just read your review of The One Hundred Year Old Man Who....etc etc. I loved it!
My book club has suggested we all read it and see the film when it comes out, but I wondered if it would be my thing. So I did what I would never normally do if I thought I really wanted to read something and, read a few reviews :) (we have the same philosophy on that maybe?).

>18 LovingLit: Ha, it sounds like we do have a similar philosophy. I figure if I really want to read something, reviews are probably not going to put me off anyway, and I'd rather be able to form my own thoughts about it. But I often start reading reviews if I'm partway through and really struggling - sometimes I see a different perspective that makes it better, and sometimes I get commiseration that it's really that awful. :)

I'm glad you liked the review on that one ... although it seems to be quite popular with lots of other people, so maybe I am just grumpy! (And now I'm conscious of my use of ellipses, but I wouldn't do it if I were writing a book.) I'll be curious what you and your book club make of that one.